Modi fires fresh salvo at Congress in Chhattisgarh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday referred to the death of BJP MLA Bhima Mandavi and four security men in a Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh to launch a scathing attack at the Congress.

Saying that neither the Congress’s intentions nor its policies were honest, he said that the party had done a “PhD in betraying the people.”

Addressing a rally at Korba in Chhattisgarh, Modi said that the Congress used to refer the Maoists as “revolutionaries.” He claimed that the rise of Maoists in the state once again was because the Congress was boosting their confidence.

“What kind of politics is this? On one hand, we are working towards the security and development of the country and its tribal and backwards areas. On the other hand, there is a conspiracy to push the state into violence. You need to beware of such people,” he said.

Referring to the Congress’s manifesto he said that the Maoists were also being emboldened by the party’s manifesto.

“Congress has announced that if they form the government, they will remove the sedition law. This mean that those who want to spread terror in the country will be given a free hand, they will not be punished? Should the sedition law be removed?,” he said.

Asking whether Congress’s hand was with development or with destruction, he asked if the state wanted to revert to the violent past.

“Does Chhattisgarh want landmines or does it want electricity and water pipelines?,” he said.

Modi also accused the Congress of supporting those who wanted to divide the country.

Referring to the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), he said that the Congress wanted to remove the protective powers that the armed forces enjoyed while keeping the country safe in areas like Jammu and Kashmir.

“Will you let people play with the country’s and your security? The Congress is so removed from the people of the country that they don’t understand the people of the country,” he claimed.

“Whatever is happening in Chhattisgarh is being controlled from Delhi. Why else would the Ayushman Bharat Scheme be stopped suddenly in the state?” he said.

He went on to attack the Congress government in Chhattisgarh for not having provided the list of farmers to the Centre for it to disburse the money to the state’s farmers under the PM Kisan Yojana.

“The Congress has decades of experience in betraying the people. It has done a PhD in betrayal. Neither their intentions, nor their policies are honest,” he said.

He claimed that before the 2014 elections, the Congress had been involved in the coal scam.

“They gave a free hand to loot the tribal areas. The tribals got nothing, nor did the nation’s treasury get anything. The Congress took everything,” he said.

He said that the Congress was so removed the people of the country that they did not understand the people’s aspirations or what they needed.

He said that the Congress wants to shut down all the schemes that the Centre has started for the benefit of the poor.

Urging the people to vote for the BJP in the coming election, he said that the sooner the Congress was removed, the faster the state would develop.

He claimed that while the Congress was working towards stopping all the benefits, the BJP is working towards expanding its projects.

“By 2022, when we celebrate the 75th year of our Independence, we aim to give pucca houses to all those people who don’t own a house,” he said.

Making an election campaign pitch to the farming community in Odisha to vote for the BJP, Modi on Tuesday slammed the Biju Janata Dal (BJD)-led state government for large scale corruption.

“It is the result of the earlier corrupt and weak governments that the people of Odisha remained poor after so many years of Independence. Discrimination on the basis of region and caste are the only achievements of Congress and BJD,” Modi said, while addressing a rally in Sambalpur.

He said despite the Mahanadi river and the Hirakud reservoir, farmers in the state are not getting enough water to irrigate their fields.

The Prime Minister said that although the Centre has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) on paddy to 1.5 times of the production cost, middlemen continue to rule the roost as the state government has failed to procure paddy from the farmers.

Indo-Asian News Service